Nutrition

After the post yesterday, a friend sent me an article published this year in Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(15):1638-1646. It is authored by people affiliated with the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine.

In other words, these aren’t slouches.

They published the latest results of a 21 year longitudal study that looks at the health benefits of a group of runners compared to non-runners. I read the entire study and looked at their statistics and agree that their conclusion is proved. The conclusion is that Running at middle and older ages is associated with reduced disability in later life and a notable survival advantage.

Some thinks that are worth pointing out:

• The study subjects were runners 50 years or older. Just like the article that I linked to yesterday this is an older subject group. Meaning that for conclusive proof — in my mind — there will need to be some studies that follow runners in the 20-30 year old age range. However, it’s clear there is an association that carries over.
• Annual attrition rates after 21 years for subjects were approximately 3% for runners and 6% for controls (meaning non runners who never ran for a continuous period of six months or longer).
• In 1984 the runners were running an average of 237 minutes per week. That was reduced to 76 minutes per week (although they were exercising in other ways a total of 287 minutes per week) 21 years later in 2005. This shows that the runners we are talking about are not marathon distance or further. So this study really shows the benefits of running for non-marathoners.
• Members of the running group had significantly lower mean disability levels at all time points in the study.
• Lest you believe the control group just rested on their laurels in front of the tv this wasn’t true. In 1984 they had 15 minutes per week of running as a mean time and 87 minutes per week of vigorous exercise mean. This changed to 1 min/week of running and 138 min/week of vigorous by 2005. This shows an average mean increase of exercise yet both disability and attrition rates did not slow for the control group.
• The difference between runners and controls was most striking for women.
• The time required to reach specified levels of disability was significantly longer for runners than for controls.
• Looking at the causes of death it was clear that cardiovascular problems were the cause for 29 of the runners and 43 of the control group. Congestive heart failure however was 2 for each group. Cancer was 30 for runners and 41 for control. Infections caused the death of one runner and 15 control. Also neurological reasons killed 6 runners and 14 control. This is consistent with reports associating regular exercise with reduced incidence of dementia and several cancer types.

This article entitled “Reasons to Run” has a lot of good debunking of various myths that disparage running.

1. Bad for your heart. Of course you can find some examples of people who have a heart attack while running. This men’s olympic trials provided a tragic example of that and Jim Fixx is another. But “as has been shown and proven time and again which point to stronger heart muscles, reduced bad cholesterol, increased good cholesterol, more elastic arteries, improved blood circulation and more.”
2. I can’t run at my age. “Buster Martin, at 101 has registered to run in the 2008 London Marathon and is training along with Fauja Singh, 97. So if you are above 101, you may be right since we don’t know if running is good for you.” Awesome.
3. I am slim, I don’t need to run. Just because you appear healthy doesn’t mean that you are healthy. “LDL-cholesterol, the so-called ‘bad cholesterol’ that clogs-up the arteries, was significantly higher in lean non-exercisers than in those who take regular aerobic exercise.” In addition, impact activities have been proven to help bone density, build cardio vascular strength, help  combat diabetes, and help provide extra energy.
4. Running is bad for the knees. “It is unclear if long-distance running causes the hip and knee joints to deteriorate. The current evidence suggests that moderate level of running does not increase the risk of osteoarthritis of hip and knee for healthy people. In fact there is evidence to suggest that this activity might even have some protective effect on the joints. In addition, a recent study by the University of Exeter concluded that running is better than walking.” Just make sure you have a good pair of shoes, you stretch after running, and you cross train. I wouldn’t recommend ultras if you are worried about your knees because there isn’t enough study about what it does to average runners. However, running a few days a week for 20-30 minutes is advisable.

Check out the article for more information.

I have recently started to feel a little bit of pangs in my knee. It doesn’t seem like a big deal right now but it’s got to stop before it turns ugly. I could buy a brace but I don’t really want to right now. Instead I will do a little stretching and follow some of the stuff found in here. Which apparently they found from Fitsugar. Which apparently they found from a place called healthday. They give it the proper attribution of The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.

I think that a lot of runners forget that one of the most important components to running a good race is proper nutrition. This isn’t limited to during a race, because you’ve got to have a proper foundation before the race. There are a few simple things that I have done to get myself in better race form:

1) Better quality food in means better quality energy out.

2) Eat plenty of foods that are high in protein and have a decent amount of carbohydrates.

3) All fruits and vegetables are good. Typically the brighter the color the more beneficial the vegetable or fruit is.

4) On race day you should ignore carb loading; eat something before the race (I like wheat toast with peanut butter) at least three hours before; don’t sacrifice sleep to eat the meal (your muscles will be good to go if you eat a high quality meal before an early morning meal. Just eat 100-200 calories five to 10 minutes prior to the start of the race — if you must).

hundreds of people were sent to the hospital, at least one person died, and the marathon was called off. it’s way too hot out there.

Don’t you hate it when your non-runner friends ask you if you’re worried about the damage you’re doing to your bones? It sort of begs the question of whether or not running actually damages bones. Next time you are asked this you can feel confident letting them know that aerobic exercise, including running, actually strengthens bones.

That study also stressed that diet without exercise actually causes a decrease in bone density. So if you really want to damage your bones — diet without exercise. But any endurance athlete should know that you need to exercise your whole body and have a balanced diet with plenty of calcium in order to keep upper body bone density where it should be.

Get out there and run!

I guess that drinking a pedialyte-type drink has become more popular outside of endurance sports. Athletes I know who run ultras have been doing it for years after long races. I typically make my own rather than buying the stuff at the store. It’s easy enough to do and a lot cheaper.

Here is what you need to mix together:

• 8 level teaspoons of sugar
• 1 level teaspoon of table salt
• 1/2 cup of orange juice
• 1 liter of water

Don’t use artificial sweeteners or fructose (fruit sugar) in the place of regular sugar as it won’t provide sufficient energy.

Why do running and beer go together in such a refreshing way? Most people have seen the Michelob Ultra ads where they drink a beer after the run. A lot of marathon runners know that at the end of a marathon there is typically plenty of beer to  be drunk. It does taste nice after a run. Why?

Nuun now has Gu’s former marketing guru. Why? I think because Nuun is far too underrated. It’s my favorite electrolyte tablet and I’m surprised that I don’t see more people using it on longer endurance races.

A problem with simply drinking water is that your body still needs some sodium in it in order to properly hydrate itself. Just drop a tablet of nuun into 16 ounces of water and let it dissolve for a minute or two.

I don’t think it’s the best tasting stuff in the world but it does the job.

That’s Fit has a post about running with the proper nutrition. Both on longer runs and before the runs, I think it’s very important for any runner to get the proper nutrition. For me, one of my favorite things to eat before running is a banana. I will usually eat one as a snack during the day or the night before a long run. I’m also a fan of carbs and will eat a lot of bread and tortillas throughout the week.

During a run I like to eat a little bit of sugar such as a cookie or two. I also think it’s good to get some pretzels in me so that I have the salt from them. If it is really a long race, I will also stop and have some soup.

After long runs, I will usually have something like Recoverite or Endurox to help repair my muscles and speed up the recovery time. I also keep a jar of salted peanuts in my car to eat whenever I want a little pick me up. They fuel my protein, good fats, and salt to help with recovery.

How about you? What do you eat?

I have to be honest in saying that you shouldn’t hire me to be your mystery buyer. I will do some research beforehand but then I will completely betray that. I will think that I need one product but buy something else. Then I will come back home and research what I decided to get and feel bad.

That’s what happened when I was going to buy some Recoverite. I saw it at the biking store but they were selling it too high. Then a few days later, I was at the vitamin store and saw some Endurox R4 and thought that it could be alright. I was going to look up some reviews of it but was hassled a little by the salesperson.

I realized that I was in the store even though they were closed, so I felt bad enough that I grabbed the small tub of Endurox. It was the Orange Blast flavoring, so I swapped that out with Fruit Punch.

When I researched it the reviews seemed to say that it works really well which was refreshing. However, they also said that Fruit Punch was anything from gross to tasting like vomit. Every review seemed to say to stay away from Fruit Punch.

I’m happy to say that after my 4 mile hard run, I decided that I would try the Endurox for myself. I love the taste of the Fruit Punch. Maybe I just have strange tastes but I coudn’t be happier with it. I’m just hoping it helps my recovery even though I know this run doesn’t really require it but I need to be 100% because I’m planning on a 22 mile run tomorrow morning.

It’s true that staying in shape can help you save a lot of money. I didn’t realize just how much money it can save until I read some of the statistics at Get Rich Slowly.

If you are overweight you will probably spend more money on food, life insurance policies, higher medical expenses, and you will earn less money. One of the interesting statistics is that for a mere .67 cents, you can supersize a meal. Each time you do this you can expect to spend about 6 to 7 dollars on future medical expenses.

Hopefully, people will see the benefits of running and make sure that they do some sort of cardio exercise (I think running is the best) at least three times a week.